Legoland Windsor Resort

The Beginning is the entrance area to the park.[22] It is composed of a plaza area containing entrance turnstiles, ticket sales, and toilets and stretches to contain a small part of the resort at the bottom of the funicular railway. It has a view of the area surrounding the resort including the nearby town of Windsor, Heathrow Airport, and parts of London.

The main resort shop, The BIG Shop, is located at The Beginning and is the largest Lego store in the UK. Picsolve operates the Photo Shop, which sells photographs of visitors aboard rides and attractions in the resort.[23]

Food and beverage outlets located at The Beginning include the Hill Top Cafe, a coffee outlet, and the Sweet Stop.[24][22]

The only ride located in The Beginning is the Hill Train, a 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge funicular railway down a curved slope.[25] It is the only ride or attraction to be retained from Windsor Safari Park, being refurbished when the park opened with stained glass windows made from translucent Lego bricks by local school children.[8] It travels 300 metres (980 ft) between two stations, with a height difference between the top and bottom stations of approximately 27 metres (89 ft).[26]

Creation Centre, 2007.

The Creation Centre opened at The Beginning in 2000.[27] The building has housed a number of attractions since it has opened; the first main attraction it contained was Lego Racers in which customers created virtual Lego vehicles and raced them against others.[27][28] The attraction suffered from reliability issues and closed at the end of 2004.[28] It was revived in 2009 by members of the original team under the new name of Rocket Racers.[28] Reliability issues remained and it closed at the end of the weekend of 8–9 October 2011.[28] In 2012 the attraction space was repurposed for Star Wars Miniland which was based on the Star Wars franchise. Unlike Lego Racers and Rocket Racers, it was classed as a walkthrough attraction with no queue. In 2016, a large model of the Death Star was installed as the centrepiece of the attraction. Following the end of a licensing deal between Lucasfilm and Merlin Entertainments, the attraction closed on 31 December 2019.[29]

The Creation Centre is also home to Legoland Windsor's model makers who display busts of famous figures as well as a view of their studio in a space on the second floor of the centre.[30] On the ground floor of the centre is Apocalypseburg which was part of the Lego Movie 2 set.[31]

Duplo Valley is a land aimed at smaller children based on the Duplo toy bricks, with the majority of rides being family rides. Since the resort's opening the land has rotated through a number of different names including Explore Land, Duplo Gardens, and Duplo Land.

At the beginning of the 2020 season, Duplo Valley was reopened following a refurbishment and the construction of a new ride, the Duplo Dino Coaster.[32] The ride, originally planned to be called the Duplo Dream Coaster, became the resort's third rollercoaster after The Dragon and the Dragon's Apprentice.[33] Aimed to be a "my first coaster" it saw a soft opening before the park's temporary closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[32][33] It was designed by Mack Rides and manufactured by ART Engineering GmbH. Alongside the opening of the new ride was the re-theming of three rides and attractions: Duplo Express (previously Duplo Train), Duplo Airport (previously Duplo Valley Airport, Chopper Squadron, and Whirly Birds) and Duplo Playtown (previously Brickville).[32][34][35][36] Also located in Duplo Valley is Fairy Tale Brook, a boat ride which takes visitors on a course containing models of fairy tale characters.[37]

Duplo Valley is home to the resort's water park which consists of two separate rides and attractions: Drench Towers and Splash Safari. Drench Towers is a water splash area with multiple slides which was placed on land previously occupied by Mole-in-One Mini Golf.[38] Splash Safari is a smaller splash area for toddlers which consists of water features made of Duplo models and is located below Drench Towers.[39]

The Duplo Valley Theatre, a puppet theatre showing classic fairy tales, is located in the valley adjacent to Fairy Tale Brook.[40] A family restaurant, Farmer's Joe Chicken Company, is located opposite the theatre.[41]

Knight's Kingdom

Knight's' Kingdom (originally Castleland and previously NEXO Knight's Kingdom) features The Dragon roller coaster,[8] which starts inside the castle themed station, passing Lego tableaux, before travelling outside reaching a speed of around 30 mph (48 km/h). Other rides in the land are the flat carousel ride Merlin's Challenge (previously known as Knight's Quest) and Dragon's Apprentice, a smaller rollercoaster acting as an alternative for shorter visitors not permitted to ride The Dragon.

In previous years, the land has assumed a role as Christmas Kingdom when open in the winter months and houses a grotto in the ride area of The Dragon.

Lego City (formerly known as Traffic), is themed around transport. It features the Balloon School (a simulated hot air balloon ride), Coastguard HQ (a boat school ride for children), Fire Academy, L-Drivers (driving school for children aged 3–5) and City Driving School (driving school for children over 1.1 metres (3 ft 7 in). In 2019, a Vekoma "mad-house" attraction called Haunted House Monster Party[42] was added to the area and in 2020, Atlantis Submarine Voyage by Sea Life (which features "submarine" vehicles used to travel through the tank) was rethemed to become Lego City Deep Sea Adventure.

Miniland is a miniature park in Lego form, depicting towns and cities from around the world, using nearly 40 million Lego bricks.[43] The area features a number of animated models interacting with each other. Motor vehicles use cables under the paths emitting radio wave signals to steer and allow charging when required. The train system runs on tracks, slowing for stations using slow-down bars, and the boats use underwater motor-driven rubber loops as well as sensors to operate bridges and locks. The system, with lights and sounds, is run by 14 computers using 300 kilometres (190 mi) of underground cabling.[8]

The land is divided into different areas as they are depicted, including the UK and mainland Europe. In 2018, Miniland saw an expansion called "Explore the World" which added more Lego models of global sites including the Sydney Opera House, Forbidden Palace, and Saint Basil's Cathedral.[44] The same year various site from the USA were added.[45]

Lego Ninjago World opened in May 2017 based upon the Ninjago TV series.[46] The centrepiece attraction is a 4D interactive ride, Ninjago: The Ride manufactured by Triotech.[46] The zone features the relocated and rebranded ride Destiny's Bounty, a Rockin' Tug ride based on the ship in the TV series. The ride was previously known as Longboat Invader, and opened in 2008.[47]

Pirate Shores features a log flume, Pirate Falls, a play area, a pirate ship ride named the Jolly Rocker and the Spinning Spider (a teacups-style ride where visitors ride in log-style gondolas as an animatronic Lego spider gnashes its jaws and breathes smoke on a web above).. From 1996 to 2010, this area was known as Wild Woods.

Heartlake City (formerly Lego City until redecoration in 2015), based on the Lego Friends product range, includes two rides: The Legoland Express (a railway ride around Kingdom of the Pharaohs), and a Disk'O coaster called Mia's Riding Adventure. Return to Skeleton Bay (a pirate stunt show) and Lego Friends to the Rescue (a live music concert) take place around the harbour performed by the Lego Friends.

Lego brick animals

The Kingdom of the Pharaohs contains Laser Raiders, an interactive dark ride through an Egyptian tomb where visitors shoot targets to gain points. Also in this area are Scarab Bouncers, Aero Nomad, Desert Chase, and Thunder Blazer. The latter three rides are fairground based attractions such as a carousel, a Ferris wheel and a chair-o-planes rides.

Bricktopia (previously called Imagination and Imagination Centre) is an area themed around education through Lego. The centre piece is the Legoland Learning Academy (previously Lego Education Centre) which offers National Curriculum workshops. In 2019 the academy was awarded Best Venue for STEM Learning.[48]

The only ride in Bricktopia is Sky Rider, which is an elevated track ride opened in March 1996 and refurbished between the 2001 and 2002 seasons.[49] The ride gives visitors views of Miniland.

Bricktopia includes Lego Studios 4D (previously known as the Imagination Theatre) which shows Lego-themed films.[50] In the 2020 season, these were Lego City 4D – Officer in Pursuit, Lego Ninjago – Master of the 4th Dimension, and Lego Dreamzzz 4D - Z-Blob Rescue Rush.[51]

In 2023, the Lego Reef was replaced with LEGO Ferrari Build and Race.[52]

Opening in 2021, Mythica is a land based where Adventure Land was previously located.[18] The centrepiece is Flight of the Sky Lion, a flying theatre ride. Also in the land are two drop towers and the re-themed S.Q.U.I.D. Surfer ride known as Hydra's Challenge.[53]

The Legoland Hotel opened in March 2012. it is located at the back of the park, in the Adventure land section, on the old site of the Jungle Coaster. Visitors enter the hotel on the ground floor but enter the park on the second floor. The hotel is home to the Bricks Restaurant (a buffet) and the Skyline Bar,[67] both on the second floor. The resort has featured various Lego themed rooms.[68] Customers of the hotels have access to the pirate-themed indoor pool and fitness facility (located at the Legoland Hotel), a treasure hunt in each room, and access to select park attractions before the general public enters the park.[66] The second floor includes a loft where Lego video games can be played on PlayStation 4 consoles. The ground floor features a Lego store and bins of bricks for building.

The Legoland Castle Hotel opened on 1 July 2017. The hotel was opened by competition winner James Waine who designed a model that was built by professional model makers and put outside the hotel.[69] The hotel offers wizard- and knight-themed rooms.[70] The hotel is only accessible from the park; visitors must check-in at the Legoland Hotel and travel through the hotel and the park to reach the Castle Hotel. The Castle Hotel is located next to the Legoland Hotel, and includes the Tournament Tavern[67] restaurant.

In Legoland Windsor's ten-year plan, the park expressed interest in building a holiday village of 450 lodges ranging from barrel-style glamping to large family lodges. This idea culminated in the Woodland Village. Opening in May 2024, will be "a haven to retreat to after a busy day at the Park". According to the official website, it will feature 150 lodges (much less than the planned 450), a Clubhouse with a restaurant, bar and live entertainment and the chance to become a LEGOLAND ranger. What the latter will involve is unknown at time of writing.